After the roadshow in Mumbai on 12 December, the drupa promotion visited Delhi-NCR on 13 December for an evening event attended by leading printers and converters. The traveling roadshow was to go to Chennai next for a similar revival meeting since drupa is taking place after eight years – because of which there is heightened interest in the once-seminal fair.
With the theme ‘future is now’, the presentations of the committee members highlighted that AI-integrated technologies will be a prime focus for the upcoming show. According to Andreas Plesske, drupa committee chairman and CEO of Koenig & Bauer, the global print Industry is growing at 4% CAGR annually and in the upcoming 6-7 years, the technologies and processes will transform astronomically. However, he highlighted that geopolitical factors and a shortage of skilled workers could hinder the growth of the industry. The underutilization of printing presses is among the major problems. He particularly cited the poor efficiency of highly automated presses in emerging economies where there is a shortage of skills.
Plesske said, “A need to upskill the machine operators globally is the need of the hour. No company can keep making profits if the presses are not utilized at full capacity. Moreover, underutilization also impacts the health of a press making it more susceptible to the need for servicing. At Koenig & Bauer, we are also launching several training programs to train operators and customers alike.”
Sabine Geldermann of Messe Düsseldorf shared the participation numbers for drupa 2024 with China leading in the number of participants and India climbing up the ladder overtaking the numbers of the USA and UK. Drupa 24 is seeing a significant growth in the number of participants from Asia with China now having more exhibitors than Germany the host country, and India almost doubling its tally at 72. Germany, with fewer exhibitors than China, still has about double the floor space of the German giant. She highlighted some new knowledge destinations at the coming drupa, “Printing just on paper is an old concept. At drupa this time we have more than 18 halls with HP being the biggest exhibitor having one hall to themselves. The upcoming show will include textile printing, automotive printing, cans, plastics, woods, and many more with AI integration being a major highlight.” She suggested that many visitors would find the various Touchpoint exhibits such as Textile, Sustainability, Packaging and AI of immense interest.
Kamal Chopra, general secretary of the Offset Printers Association, said that many Indian printers claim that printing jobs are going down in comparison to packaging. “I agree that the packaging industry has grown significantly but without printing, there could be no growth in packaging. The drupa committee members present here are a testament to the growth printing industry that has gone way beyond conventional offset,” he said. Chopra demystified some of drupa organizers’ constant citing of the large number of ‘20,000 Indian visitors.’ As is well known, but often forgotten is that ‘20,000 visitors’ actually means anywhere from 4,500 to 5,000 visitors each going to the fair anywhere from 4 to 7 days.
The question of the German embassy’s visa processes in India was also brought up (apparently as it was in Mumbai as well) – resulting in several assurances from the drupa organizing team – that this has been taken up with the German embassy and consulates in India.
